One of the issues that mankind is now facing is global warming. It is doing more than causing temperatures to rise, a lack of suitable water is threatening up to 40% of the world’s population. Tehran-based BM Design Studios has come up with a unique solution to combat the higher temperatures and dry climates.
It is a concept of concave roofs. When put in place, they would cool the interior of the home naturally and capture rainwater for use. It is also said that the roof design would help even a small amount of rain to flow down the roof and collect into bigger drops. This would allow them to be harvested before they evaporate.
A primary school was being planned when the idea was proposed. That school, which is located in a dry, hot area of Iran, could use the design to offset the water consumption of the building by collecting and harvesting any rainfall that happened to occur. In a conversation with Arch Daily, the architects said, “A concave roof like this will help make even the smallest quantities of rain flow off the roof and eventually coalesce into bigger drops just right for harvesting before they evaporate.” According to some estimates, Iran has less than one-third of the precipitation in the world but three times higher evaporation than the world’s average.
The concave roof system’s outer shell collects rainwater but it also provides shedding to control temperatures. Air is able to move between the outer shell and inner shell, so it is, in essence, a cooling mechanism. 923 m² of the concave roof area is on the roof of the school. It is estimated that 28 m³ of water could be collected. This is more than just an interesting project, it may just spark some ideas that would help with global warming. The architects also feel that any building in a dry climate would benefit from such a system.
When the architects had a conversation with Dezenn, they said, “Some 65 percent of Iran has an arid or hyper-arid climate. Unfortunately, every year, this zone expands. Big lakes like Lake Urmia have shrunk to a fraction of their size, gradually disappearing. The consequences include thousands of farmers losing their jobs and [pushing] the city itself to the brink of rationing drinking water. We may not be very far from witnessing a big displacement of people.” Scientists are coming to the realization that water is an important factor in climate change. Due to rising sea levels and temperatures, people are either going to end up with too much or too little water.
According to some estimates, 1.8 billion people might be living with absolute water scarcity by 2025 and some two-thirds of the world will be living in water-stressed conditions. Due to the severity of the situation, it will be an important topic at the WDCD Climate Action Challenge. The concave roof is more than just an interesting project, it may be a step in the right direction when it comes to combating rising temperatures and water scarcity.
